Finally, the second half of the road

King's Canyon

After Kings Canyon, my road trip turned North towards Cairns. We began by trying to cut through an unsealed road that led to the West MacDonald ranges just north of Alice Springs, but a few minutes of intense rattling made me realize that there was no way the car would survive 100 km of it. So we turned around and took a fruit with us, which we later drew a face on and named Wilson.

I don't have a picture. It looks like a melon. Just imagine.

Anyway. we spent two days in Alice Spring where I bought two bush bags from the Salvation army for $15 which is a really good price for too full garbage bags of clothes. After my fashion show, we realized that half the stuff was XXXXXXXL size so I re donated it. Then we hit the road and headed up towards Cairns.

The road was probably less interesting going the other way, but Antonia drove once or twice and I got a good sleep. The next day we quickly arrived at Devil's Marbles.

The Marbles

Magnetic Island

According to the sign, Aboriginals believed that ghostly figures wandered Devil's Marbles beckoning to those alone among the rocks. Apparently if they asked you to follow you couldn't say no and would walk off with them never to be seen again. Naturally we all decided to go off in different directions exploring the rocks.

We moved on, and the road was desolate all the way to Townsville.

Now before we move on I just want to say, what kind of a name is Townsville for a town. They're not very creative these English settlers are they. It's like calling a road Streets road or a river Streams river. Thing is further North there is a town called Ingham. So in England there's Birmingham and Nottingham, but whoever came over on a ship couldn't thing of a prefix so called the town Ingham.

Anyway, we took Roads street to Townsville and then took Boats ferry to Magnetic Island with a tent and some supplies. Captain Cook thought the island was magnetic because when he sailed by his compass went haywire.

Sunset on the North side of Magnetic Island

I got a lot of good shots on the island, but then again it's hard to take a bad picture of a sunset. I think the best thing about the place was how small it was.

Jana on the Island

It was covered in the most beautiful beaches I've seen in Australia so far. Most people tell me that the West coast is the place to go for beautiful scenery but I haven't been there so I was still stunned.

There was a hostel on the island that hires people to work for free accommodation. It's an awesome place to hang out but I don't think I would have done it. Hostels are just full of people partying and getting drunk. That's fine if you want to do that but that's not why I came to Australia. Buying a van was the best choice I made.

We spent two days on the island before we headed back. Before we went, the car next to us had been broken into. Someone had thrown a brick though the window and I was hoping my van was still intact.  Luckily everything was fine and we all moved on and began our drive up the East Coast.

Sunset on the island

  After the island, we didn't really stop anywhere else. We went up into a mountain somewhere. There was a big swinging vine that everyone had a good time trying to get on and swing around. That was honestly the highlight of the drive. Then we arrived in Cairns: The city where everyone has so much to do and absolutely nothing gets done.

The Bug

I wasn't too happy to be back really, plus everyone parted ways and Antonia had to go home. So I was left alone in the van doing absolutely nothing for a little while. I needed to find a job, but only found a little bug. But that was when Antonia was still around. 

Three days alone and it started to get unbearable, then I decided to fire dance in a park. Then everything changed.

I'll continue later.

- James